What’s The Deal: App-etite for Expansion

Travis Kalanick, founder of start-up Uber, which lets users summon a luxury taxi with the help of GPS and the push of a button on their smartphone, pictured in California in 2011.

By Anjali Athavaley

Uber Technologies Inc., a technology company working on apps that enable people to hail cabs and car services with their smartphones, is expanding its offices in Long Island City.

San Francisco-based Uber is expanding to occupy the entire 12,000-square-foot building at 27-55 Jackson Ave. It moved into the three-story building in November, renting 3,200 square feet.

The expansion is coming despite possible legal hurdles to apps that enable people to hail yellow cabs with their phones.

The Taxi and Limousine Commission had approved the use of apps made by Uber and Hailo Network USA Inc. A state judge in Manhattan ruled that the city acted properly in launching a one-year pilot program. But the opponents of e-hailing, a coalition of livery car companies, appealed, and were granted an emergency injunction last week.

Uber’s app allows users to locate car services using their smartphones. The company charges riders for fares directly, and then pays drivers a portion of that amount. Josh Mohrer, Uber’s New York City general manager, says the company’s main business in New York is with black-car companies and that’s steadily grown for the past two years. “Our core business is not affected by this ruling either way,” Mohrer says.

Uber has 18 employees in New York City. It plans to increase its ranks to 30 to 40 this year, Mohrer says. The company chose Long Island City for its headquarters because of its proximity to Manhattan and because it offers parking, he says. Uber is paying roughly $22 per square foot. “It’s a familiar area to car services and private drivers,” Mr. Mohrer says.

More young tech companies are setting up shop in the area, lured by cheaper rents and relatively quick commute to Midtown Manhattan. The nonprofit Coalition for Queens counts about 50 startups in the borough.